Two Russian Volgoneft tankers broke in half off the coast of Crimea, one person was killed. Video

On the morning of December 15, two Russian fuel oil tankers almost sank off the coast of the temporarily occupied Crimea. The stormy sea literally broke the Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239 ships in half.

This was reported by propaganda Telegram channels. They published a number of videos taken from the scene by Russian sailors, and later confirmed the death of one of the crew members.

According to them, the accident occurred near the Kerch Strait, a few kilometers from the coast.

First, the Volgoneft-212 tanker carrying about 4,300 tons of fuel oil and 13 crew members was damaged.

Another 14 Russian sailors were on the Volgoneft-239, which began to sink an hour later. Eyewitnesses said that strong sea waves broke through the tankers.

In total, both tankers were carrying more than 8 thousand tons of oil products.

The occupiers sent a rescue boat to the scene of the emergency. At the same time, propagandists point out that the sailors stood on the decks for about four hours while waiting for help.

Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry has admitted that two Volgoneft tankers were damaged in the Kerch Strait, where severe weather conditions are observed: strong squally winds and sea waves of up to seven points. Officially, the cause of the incident was "bad weather": the Russian agency claimed that one of the two sinking tankers "ran aground, the other drifted."

Unofficially, some Russian media outlets, citing sources in the maritime rescue and search services, voiced another possible circumstance: due to the strong storm, the crew members "could not cope with the elements, making mistakes in control."

Another possible cause of the accident was also mentioned: excessive storm load on the hulls of the tankers, which were built in the early 80s and designed as river tankers with limited access to coastal waters - only in good weather.

The Russian Emergencies Ministry identified the stranded tanker as Volgoneft-212, although videos published earlier on Russian Telegram channels show that the hull of the vessel broke in half.

There were a total of 29 people on board the crashed tankers. The accident resulted in a spill of oil products.

A few hours later, Russian media reported that 12 out of 13 crew members had allegedly been evacuated from Volgoneft 212. One person was killed. And as of 14:40 Kyiv time, all 14 crew members remained on board Volgoneft 239, but "there is no threat to their lives," one pro-government publicist claimed.

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened two criminal cases on the fact of violation of the rules of traffic safety and operation of maritime transport.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, the number of barges installed by the occupiers in the Kerch Strait as booby traps to protect against Ukrainian naval drones has halved in a month. Recent satellite images showed only 18 barges between Tuzla Island and the Kerch Peninsula.

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